"Well, this is certainly... Different," Alphabittle remarked as he fidgeted in the white multi-piece "clean room suit" that he had gotten into, honestly a bit surprised that they had had one in his size.
He and Sunny had returned the sealed book to it's cloth wrap and chest, and taken it straight to what was clearly the biggest employer in town, a large production factory named CanterLogic. They were each given visitor passes, and their chest was taken through security while they were taken to get changed. The suit consisted of white booties, body sleeve, and a hood that covered their mane and came up to their faces. A face mask covered their snouts, leaving the only part uncovered being their eyes.
"We don't know exactly how old this book is, or how long it's been sealed in that bag. The longer the better, if the seal has held. Worst case scenario is, we open that book, and the pages start coming apart with every turn. A better case would be if it's in good enough condition to get pages turned and get them photographed for copying. Best case scenario is it's in good enough condition to put on display in the museum. We're taking it to a clean room, with minimum contamination factor, so if it's in good enough condition to be photographed and lightly handled, it can stay that way for as long as possible."
"You're the expert," Alphabittle replied.
"I wish."
Once they were fully dressed, they went through a set of double doors, where they immediately felt the change in air pressure. The mat they stepped onto was sticky, and was likely meant to get any last contaminants off of their hooves. They crossed through another set of double doors, and suddenly the air seemed a bit lighter. A CanterLogic employee was waiting for them in the brightly lit hall.
"You were the two with the book? Right this way, ma'am, sir," the equally clad earth pony said, and led them past several doors with glass observation windows, and stopped at the fourth one.
"It's right in there, take as much time as you need,"he said, then proceeded down the hall. Sunny and Alphabittle looked into the room through the window, and saw that the book had been removed from the chest and cloth wrap, and sat on a simple, plain table, still sealed in the bag.
She opened the door, and the pair of them stepped in. A high resolution digital camera had also been set up, attached to a bracket that kept it suspended a foot and a half above the table, and also plugged into a screen that was on a separate stand next to the table. Next to the sealed book, was a set of tweezers, and a retractable precision blade, presumably to open the bag. They stepped up to the table, and looked at their donation. Taking a deep breath, Sunny extended the blade by just a quarter of an inch, got the handle in the notch in her right hoof, then ever so lightly glided the blade across the top of the bag, then making two more cuts long ways on both sides of the book, intending on peeling the top of the bag away with minimal movement of the book.
With the cuts complete, she retracted the blade and set it down on the far side of the table, taking the top of the bag and peeling the new flap towards her, exposing the book for the first time in unknown centuries. She got the top flap of the bag rolled up, and slowly and carefully pulled the bottom portion out from underneath, setting it aside.
The camera had already been turned on, so it was just a matter of getting it positioned, the camera took care of the focusing, and she promptly snapped a picture of the cover, which came up on the screen seconds later.
Taking another deep breath, she got the tip of her right hoof underneath the right corner of the front cover, and lifted it, rotating it on the binding, bringing it to rest on the table.
The inside cover had a signature on it, elegant and curvy enough that she couldn't make it out. 'T' something...
The first page was the title.
The Journal of Friendship
by
Princess Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie , Applejack,
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy
and
Spike the Dragon
Sunny stared longingly at the names below the title, almost forgetting to take a photo with the above camera.
"Their names..." She whispered. "I finally know their names..."
She took the tweezers in the notch of her hooves, got them perfectly under the first page, and turned it, to the Table of Contents and the Preface.
She quickly snapped a photo of the Table of Contents, then slid the camera over to the Preface, snapping away before actually taking the time to read it.
Preface
When Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville all those years ago to study friendship, I was tasked with writing her letters about what I had learned. But soon I was learning as much from my new friends as they were from each other, and we all began to write letters.
Inside these pages are the combined lessons that we have all learned during our time together, compiled so that anypony out there can learn the same lessons we did and understand the true magic of friendship.
Thank you for taking the time to apply these stories and life lessons to yourself and those around you.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
"I don't believe it. This is amazing, this is amazing, I can probably use this as a cross reference for the gems!" She said excitedly, turning to the unicorn standing to the side. "Alphabittle, I won't keep you. This is going to take me hours."
"Don't worry about it. I was planning on spending a day or two here anyways, see the sights of the coast," the stallion replied.
"Well, I certainly hope you enjoy yourself, and when you do get back to Bridlewood, please, give Gloomy my gratitude, and tell her that if there's absolutely anything I can do for her, to not hesitate to ask, because there is no way I can repay her for the insights she has just revealed to us. I would love to have you both at the re-opening."
Alphabittle smiled down at the earth mare.
"I'll do that, and we'll try our best to be here for that. And when you're back in Bridlewood, I believe I'll take you up on that rematch."
With a final smile, he turned to leave the room, and Sunny immediately turned back to the open journal, carefully turning the page, and getting the camera lined up.
Chapter 1
Friendship is Magic
...and thus it begins.
10999322
You’re thinking of a different book.
Excellent work on this latest chapter. Again, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all well done. Definitely respected the effort that went into carefully getting ready to read the book. Sunny's reaction to the dedication was appropriately bittersweet and having the context to go with the pictures is certainly going to help in many places.
Very certainly going to be looking forward to more of this.
10999340
I'd like to think that Twilight would start her book with a detailed retelling on how she ended up in Ponyville in the first place. And the best start of a story is the very beginning.
Shouldn't the CMC be credited for the entry they made?
Anyways it's too bad that this only covers the first six and a half seasons, and thus doesn't cover the events of the 2017 movie, the School of Friendship, Celestia and Luna's retirement, Discord's Grogar stunt, and Twilight's reign, so unless Sunset's journals survived (thanks to the ambiguous nature of how time works between realms Sunset herself may still be alive or at least in living memory), assuming that Twilight told Sunset about all the big-time stuff, any detailed info about that period, is probably lost to history.
Ignoring Sunset's journals, this copy of the journal is probably the only example of the Mane 6's writing to still exist and even has Twilight's signature on it. Personally, I love the irony that the decision to publish the Friendship Journal caused the Mane 6 an insane amount of grief, yet it alongside the gems from the Golden Oak Chandelier is their most endearing legacy. Twilight would be ecstatic that the lessons in that book are still having an impact on ponies thousands of years later.
I wonder once the book is finished being copied will Sunny have it re-released? Also did Twilight include any references to the human world in it at all, or did she keep that a secret? Personally, I think it would be funny if entries describing Equestria Girls 1 and Rainbow Rocks are included but details describing the human world are kept intentionally vague, leaving out the alternate counterparts aspect as well as how to access the human world amoung other things, much to Sunny's frustration.
what I love about this kind of history digging is the careful work you have to do when handling things from so long ago.
some things in history got ruin by just holding things in your hands or just plan old air at times.
Ah. This finally scratches something of an itch as it reveals the pony reading the book in the first place.
Oh man.....the feels.....this story won't end I hope....never ever....just kidding...hopefully tough this continues a long time. Absolutely love this
Is it me or does everytime Alphabrittle talks, it reminds me of John Stewart from the Justice League cartoon?
10999377
https://www.youtube.com/c/DigitalHammurabi/videos
Any chance to visit a real library, like Trinity College or the Vatican archives or the Bodleian isn't to be missed.
10999445
no could not go because of what happened in 2020, the only library I've been to is the city local one where the history books have not been updated in the last 20 years or 30 years.
so the only way I can get books is by ordering them online.
10999445
would love to go to the one in DC
Gloomy Sonnet I think you called her was easily my favorite background character.
Great story so far. Keep up the great work
Here we have a nicely preserved, sealed autographed copy of the Friendship Letters collected into a book form ... (the original has many 'additions' to its interior) ...
Hope Sunny remembers to take photos of each page before reading (could be important later) ...
Wait , in G4 they had cameras back then, it means that inside the book there are probably even more pjotos
10999393
Yes it's the original, not the published version
I was going to write that I remember that Sunny already had a Friendship Journal but then I remember the difference here, she only had a published copy.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/8/24/1519080.gif
I'm not surprised that a copy survived because ponies already started sealing them like collectibles in the episode
derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/8/12/1508925.png
That is a published copy
i.ytimg.com/vi/QgJV9rikSW0/maxresdefault.jpg
And that is the original
static.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/d/de/Twilight_%22don%27t_judge_a_book_by_its_cover%22_S7E14.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1280?cb=20170813175302
The difference is mostly that the original has cutiemarks of other mane 5
Wait ......Gloomy Sonnet and her great grandfather are related to Twilight Sparkle?
Or at least to Sunset Shimmer or Starlight?
-Twilight Sparkle
Here we go, into the truth...
10999271
Yeah, definitely. There is also the need to consider how Twilight and the others would have written said stories. They wrote for the ponies of their time, not G5's. Thus, they probably wouldn't say things like 'make the leaves fall' or explain what Winter Wrap Up is meant to be besides 'clean up winter'. It's going to seem a bit weird to the G5s, but that's why history is worth remembering.
10999481
Welp, that's a detail I overlooked.
It was meant to be one of the published copies, seeing as how the original was already in exceedingly poor condition.
Seeing the mane six's names.... don't know why but that brought a smile of remembrance to my face....
10999512
I mean you could make it so it's the original.
You could edit it so Sunny will notice that it's a little worn out but not as much as it was when Twilight decide to publish the copies.
Maybe Twilight at some point repaired it with magic and then sealed it or it was kept in good condition thanks to magic and later when it was passed down it was sealed.
Maybe so it would remind her of her friends
Well it looks like they finally made it to the lab and yeah and it turns out it really is Twilight's friendship Journal again this was probably the best donation they ever gotten and it looks like Sunny is about to read the journal and something tells me it's going to take awhile I wonder what's going to happen next
I was actually a bit surprised that the text was as "modern" as it was; this would argue for it being only a couple of centuries as opposed to a half-millennium or more. Otherwise, the text would be more like "The Djerrnal of Frendshippe" or something. Readable, but with spelling changes.
So many feels in this story. I just may die of dehydration, as often as you manage to make me cry.
10999535
I'm not likely to go that route. The original had pages falling out, illegible writing, smushed apple between the pages, etc.
That would not have survived as well as a copy that was preserved in a collector bag by one of the super fans.
10999509
and worth relearning 50 times over until you know about 98% you think you are right but still leave room for doubt you got the whole truth.
btw the winter clean up to them meaning "just cleaning up the roads and broking up the ice to fish"
as we know in G5 with out any room for doubt they are into fish as the saying and canned tuna is to go by
10999377
One of the neatest things at the Smithsonian American Museum prepandemic was the room where you could watch them slowly restoring and preserving the flag that had hung for decades at the front (by the pendulum).
That book is a first-level source, like if we suddenly found a folio full of Aristotle's lost works just chilling on some Grecian collectors shelf .
10999574
I mean Twilight could also make a rewrite or fix it.
In the end, it should too important for her to just leave it to decay.
I mean it's Twilight remember?
Books + Twilight
She wouldn't just leave one of the most important items and books of her life to just turn to dust
10999629
Why do you assume it was a tuna can? The can does not have a picture of a fish on it, and the only writing we can make out is "Sp", so probably spinach.
10999657
i think it was a fish tin because it looks like a logic of a sea on it and that can mostly mean fish, until the cartoon comes out and show more detail of the can then we can only guess what it is.
but i say fish is that because we see the ponies fishing in the last show, but for all we know it was just to sell them at the market or as a gag.
but a factory tin is something else, it means they are mess producing the protact aka factory fishing style and canning them at high rates.
10999645
ok if that happen in real life i think it would be a huge landmark made in history if that happen
10999657
side note on this, one of my fav topics of learning history is food base stuff because it's something that most people overlook on how far we come on what we eat and how we did it at the time with the tools on end and other outside force at hand.
for one milk is the most recent thing in the human diet and was never made for it but as time is best and the benefits from it grown we become used to it and the byproduct of chesses made it a truly long-lasting food source that helps when things got rough.
you can tell what a old nation used to love to eat from looking at their trash, as a few old bottles found that the Romans really loved olive oil and gurm.
10999656
Well consider where not came from, it was in sealed packaging in the collection of a unicorn family, clearly the publisher version.
We assume dragons live thousands of years, it it's likely Spike is still around, if the preserved original is anywhere, it's with him, who else would Twilight trust the most important relics of he time too if not her Number 1 Assistant?
Another possibly is the Portal, descendants of Sunset or the Humane 6 might have a database of knowledge Twilight asks them to keep.
Of course each possibility means getting the info will be a massive quest.
10999740
True Spike could have it
But at the same time it could be in possession of:
( if they ever had children)
I love this story so far it has all the good feels expected from MLP , keep up the good work looking forward to where the story goes .
10999563 So few people ever think of the Phonic shift that can and does take place in 10 - 50 yrs much less serious amounts of time
The journal is readable, good. I really want to see her reaction to every individual “chapter”.
11000354
Lol I haven't got that kind of time.
11000358
Can you blame me? Plus I’m a sucker for reactions.
While I'm excited as Sunny some remnant of the past has survived...why is the language the same? Has the written language been consistent ever since the Fall?
11002933
Language has always been a bit weird in the show: Luna's speech was just a little old-fashioned when she'd been gone for 1000 years. Starswirl's journal was written in old ponish, but when the pillars were brought back they spoke just like any modern character...
It's best no to look too deep into it.
Bro it looks like the Friendship Journal is still in condition but they still have to be careful but man that is a pretty huge discovery
11000476
Write it yourself, or commission someone to do it?
11002933
Actually, the divergence would have started at The Tower of Babel, not The Fall I should think?
Good thinking Sunny.
how the f did the mane six era just vanish off the face of history???
You know, I'm really enjoying this archaeological explorer Sunny. I wonder if we'll ever see this side of her in the series, it's obvious something that was very present in her concept art early on.
Most we've gotten so far is Sunny flipping out over Cantorlot and Discord in the comics, not even sure you can count that considering the dubious history of MLP comics continuity...
Someone's done their research on presentation! 👍